After two weeks, National Principals Month is hitting its stride! The third week of National Principals Month is the busiest yet, featuring some excellent webinars from partner organizations aimed at aiding principals in their mission to help all students succeed. This week is also the second ever National Principal Shadowing Week! Let’s dive into the details!

During this week, principals from across the nation will be hosting representatives and congressional staff in their schools to help provide a firsthand look at the role of our nation’s school leaders. This is truly a unique opportunity that can provide a new perspective on the challenges principals face on the ground, and the real-life impact legislation and education policy has on the students they serve. If you’re hosting a local, state, or federal official during this week, please be sure to share it on social media using #ThankAPrincipal so NASSP can highlight the visit! If you have additional questions about National Principal Shadowing Week, contact Zach Scott at scottz@nassp.org.

GLSEN is a nonprofit organization that provides free resources and support to K–12 schools around LGBTQ visibility and inclusion. According to GLSEN’s national research on the experiences of LGBTQ youth in schools, nearly 4 in 5 LGBTQ students don’t see positive LGBTQ representation in their curriculum and nearly 9 in 10 experience verbal or physical harassment at school. In this webinar, Becca Mui, GLSEN’s education manager, will present national data on LGBTQ student experiences in K–12 schools, provide testimonies from principals and other school leaders who have experience implementing LGBTQ-supportive policies and programs, and provide resources and strategies for creating inclusive schools where all students feel welcome. Register here!

This webinar will explore the essential role that principals play in strengthening school climate when they mobilize social and emotional learning resources. Participants in this webinar will learn practical strategies, identify key performance indicators for SEL programs, and receive free access to the Overcoming Obstacles Life Skills Program for use in their school initiatives such as advisory, anti-bullying, character education, and career preparedness. Join the webinar!

Strong communication leads to strong community, and must always be a primary focus for school leaders. Studies have shown that communicating through stories improves attention, engagement, comprehension, empathy, acceptance, retention, persuasion, and motivation. That’s why the world’s most successful companies and organizations consistently and deliberately use strategic narratives as a key leadership tool. This webinar will highlight findings from the world of neuroscience to demonstrate exactly how and why our brains are programmed for narratives, delve into the types of strategic narratives that will be most useful and effective within your school, and offer how-to guidance in crafting and utilizing these narratives within your school communications. Register now!

In our rapidly changing world, kids need to learn to think flexibly, creatively, and critically—mastering essential knowledge and the skills to apply that knowledge wherever their aspirations take them. Recognizing that reality, states across the country committed to new college- and career-ready standards that increased expectations for our students. Yet at the same time, gaps in access to opportunities like great teachers and challenging classes are leaving too many students, particularly students of color, behind. Principals are the lynchpins to overcoming these challenges and addressing inequities, but they need new knowledge, skills, and support to succeed. In this webinar, two of the nation’s leading organizations in school leader development—New Leaders and NYC Leadership Academy—will share lessons gleaned from their research and work with principals who have led progress in moving all students toward college and career readiness. You will also hear from sitting principals on how they have put those practices in place in their schools and are seeing results. Register here!

Stay tuned to the School of Thought blog each Monday in October for updates on upcoming National Principals Month events!